childhood memories, such an innocent and gentle time
by TitanSlayer98
Summary: Past experiences and memories of Eren and Mikasa's childhood at their home in Shinganisha before the fall of wall Maria.
1. A shoulder to lean on

It was a silent walk down the dark path back to the Jager's home in Shinganisha. Eren, the boy who had saved her life an hour ago from those monster. The boy who had hatred gleaming in his eyes as he stabbed two of the traffickers to death, now wore a sorrowful look as he glanced behind him to check to see if she was still okay, while he gently held her hand. Mikasa had become emotionless after she witnessed her parents being murdered right in front of her. But after Eren had wrapped his scarf around her and comforted her, her emotions came flooding back. Now there was a light tinge on her face every time Eren checked behind him. She would just look away and not dare to meet his gaze.

"You alright?" Eren asked quietly as he stared at her. Mikasa just looked at the ground and nodded meekly. Eren knew she wasn't truly okay, so he gave her soft little hand he was holding a comforting squeeze as they kept trudging on through the night.

They got to the Jager house around 10 o'clock. Mikasa stood beside Eren as they waited for Grisha to open the door. When inside, they started to take off their shoes and coats when a women, who Mikasa inferred to be Eren's mother, came into the room.

"That took a lot longer than I thought. How was the-?" Carla asked but stopped herself short when she saw the little oriental girl, who was taking off the black trench coat Grisha gave her to wear on the walk home. The three of them turned to look at Carla but Grisha was the one who speak up first.

"Eren, why don't you take Mikasa and go get some dinner and I'll talk to mom." Grisha said as he hung his hat on the rack by the door.

"Okay Mikasa, come on, let's get some stew." Eren quietly said as he gently grabbed onto her wrist to lead her into the kitchen. Grisha waited for Eren and Mikasa to get out of earshot before he told Carla what happened.

When inside the kitchen, Eren went over to the stove and poured two bowls of stew for Mikasa and him. He then told Mikasa to take a seat at the wooden dining table, which she did. Then he placed one of the bowls and a spoon in front of her and the other bowl and spoon across from her and then took his own seat. Mikasa stared at the stew and hesitantly picked up her spoon after a few moments, which Eren noticed.

"Don't worry, my mom makes the best stew. I think it tastes better after you spend a day in the cold weather. Kinda warms you up, you know?" Eren said with a reassuring smile.

The stew did look good, but Mikasa still felt a little queasy after witnessing the events of that night. After some hesitation, she dipped her spoon in the stew, brought it up to her mouth and blew on it until it was cool enough to eat. Mikasa's great table manners were a far cry to Eren's, who took the bowl in his left hand and used the spoon in his right hand to scarf down the stew.

After they were done eating, Carla and Grisha entered the kitchen and they both wore sorrowful looks on their faces. "Eren, if your done eating, why don't you go get some blankets and a pillow out of the hall closet and make up the spare bed, while I get Mikasa cleaned up?" Carla said to her son in a soft tone.

"Okay mom." Eren simply replied as he made his way up the stairs to the spare bedroom. "Okay Mikasa, come over here so we can get you cleaned up." Carla said as she motioned Mikasa over to stand next to her by the kitchen sink. Mikasa did as she was told while Carla dunked a white cloth into the sink that she filled with water.

Carla then knelt down to Mikasa's height and began to gently dab her face with the wet cloth. "Grisha told me what happened, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." Carla said in a sorrowful tone as she dabbed at the small patch of dried blood that formed at the corner of Mikasa's mouth, where the trafficker punched her unconscious.

"Your really pretty." Carla said after a few more moments of cleaning the girl's face. "Thank you." Mikasa said in a stoic voice without showing any emotion. "I know it will take some time to heal but now you got us to take care of you." Carla said while giving Mikasa a small smile, trying to cheer the girl up a little.

"Yeah and if you need anything at all, don't be afraid to ask me or Carla. I'll go into town tomorrow after I'm done with work and buy you some new clothes to replace your old ones." Grisha said as he poured himself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot sitting on the stove. Mikasa gave them both a faint smile as Eren came down the steps and stood next to his father.

"The bed is all ready if you want to go to bed now Mikasa, but I think I'm gonna stay up a little later." Eren said, trying his best to sound mature in front of the girl.

"No, you both should get some sleep after the day you had." Grisha said as he shot his son a stern look. Eren didn't retort and just sighed as he turned to go back up the stairs. "Goodnight mom, goodnight dad." Eren said as he climbed the first step.

"Where do you think your going mister?" Carla said in a stern voice that made Eren stop in his tracks. Eren groaned as he turned around and started walking towards his mother.

"Mom, I'm too old to be kissing my par-" Eren said but was cut off by Carla. "Non sense, you are never to old to be kissed by your mom." Carla said in a warm tone as she bent down and placed a kiss on her son's forehead.

"Goodnight sweetie." Carla said as Eren started to head for the stairs once again with a blush spread across his cheeks. "Okay Mikasa come on, I'll show you where you can sleep." Eren said as he motioned Mikasa to follow.

"Thanks for dinner , I really appreciate it." Mikasa said before following Eren up the stairs. "Your welcome dear." Carla said in a warm tone as she watched the children climb the wooden steps.

Mikasa walked quietly behind Eren down the hall until he stopped and opened a door on the right. He then motioned for Mikasa to enter. She stepped in and looked around at the cozy, little and somewhat dusty bedroom. "Sorry about the dust, we haven't used this room in a while." Eren said as he stood in the doorway.

"No it's fine…I really appreciate all this, thank you." Mikasa said as she looked back at Eren. "You don't have to keep thanking us Mikasa, it's the least we can do." Eren said as he gave Mikasa a reassuring look. Mikasa didn't say anything and only nodded as agreement.

"Well if your alright, then I'm gonna go and let you get some sleep, okay?" Mikasa simply nodded so Eren replied. "Okay, well I'll be right down the hall if you need anything. So goodnight Mikasa." Eren then turned and closed the door on his way out.

Mikasa just stood their in the silence of the night. Now that no one could see her, her stoic expression became a pitiful and sad one. Her thoughts of the events of her parents murder came racing back to her. How could she go on without them, they were the only loved ones in her life and now they were gone forever.

She then was snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she was still standing in the middle of the room. She walked over to the bed side table and blew out the lit candle sitting on top of it. She then pulled back the covers on her new bed and got in

As she laid there in the darkness. She thought to herself how she was very grateful of the Jager's for what they had done. But she knew in her heart that Carla could never replace mother and Grisha could never take the place of her father. Those titles were forever taken and would never be uttered to anyone again. They were not her family.

She let a single stream of tears run down her cheeks as she whispered. "Mom, Dad, I'm so cold and lonely inside." Mikasa finally fell asleep a while later but it was not a peaceful slumber. She was having a nightmare of her parent's being murdered over and over again with her being unable to move or even scream out.

Suddenly she was shook awake. Mikasa sat strait up in her bed with a gasp. "Mikasa, you were tossing and turning. Were you having a nightmare?" A voice said next to the bed. Mikasa looked over and saw Eren's face illuminating from a single lit candle he was holding.

"Oh…its you Eren…yeah, I was having a nightmare." Mikasa said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked back towards Eren again. After he heard she had a nightmare, Eren's usually serious face softened.

"Was it about your parents?" Mikasa just nodded in response. "Yeah I know what you mean. I couldn't even fall asleep." Eren said as he said down Mikasa's bed towards the bottom, facing away from her.

There was a short silence until Mikasa broke it. "Why did you come over here?" To this Eren looked towards Mikasa then blushed a crimson red. "I-I thought since what happened, I-I took it upon myself to check on you and see if your alright." He mumbled. There was another short silence before Mikasa replied. "Thank you."

"No problem…hey, how about I sit in here for a while, I mean-just until you fall asleep?" Eren asked as he started blushing again. Mikasa simply said "sure" as she tossed back her covers.

She then scooted over and leaned back against the wall the bed was sitting against. Letting her legs stretch across the bed and her feet hang over the edge. She motioned to Eren, who did the same next to her. After they were comfortable, Eren asked.

"So what do you wanna talk about?" Mikasa turned her head towards Eren and replied. "Uh, I don't know, whatever you want to talk about I guess." Thre was a slight pause before Eren spoke up again. "Well, have you ever played hide and go seek tag before?"

"No I haven't, there wasn't many other kids where I lived, what is the game about?" Mikasa asked. "Oh it's really fun, me and Armin play it all the time, maybe we can play it some time." Eren said with an eager grin. "Who's Armin?" Mikasa asked with a curious expression.

"He's my best friend, me and him do everything together…hey I think I know what we can do tomorrow." Eren said excitedly. "What's that?" Mikasa asked. "I'll take you with me to where me and Armin usually meet up at and I'll introduce him to you, I mean if you want?" Eren asked.

"Uh sure, that's fine with me." Mikasa replied. "Okay, I think you will like him, he's the smartest guy I know. I hardly ever see him without a book in his hands." Eren stated proudly.

For fifteen more minutes they, well mostly Eren kept on talking about about everything and anything that came to mind. Mikasa listened to his every word. Which helped her keep her mind off of her parents. She would constantly give Eren short replies with a "Yes" or "mmhm" to show she was listening. After a while, she started to get sleepy and Eren noticed she had become unresponsive.

"Hey, if your getting sleepy, I guess I'll go back to my room now." Eren said as he looked next to him to see an exhausted Mikasa. "No, please don't go, I don't want to be alone." Mikasa mumbled in a tired and groggy voice. It was true that Eren wasn't her her family by blood and Mikasa knew that. But if he could bring her comfort and keep away the nightmares, maybe he could play the part.

"But Mikasa, we can't sleep in the same bed, my parents will-" Eren was cut short when Mikasa's head fell limp against his shoulder as she went into a peaceful slumber. Eren looked beside him at the sleeping little girl who had had finally a look of serenity and he smiled to himself.

"Alright, you win. If you need someone to lean on then I'm here for you." Eren whispered the last part to himself and then chuckled lightly as he realized that he was fulfilling his promise quite literally. But this promise that he made to himself wasn't a joke at all. Eren knew he would be damned before he would let anybody hurt Mikasa ever again.

Eren smiled as he pulled the blanket that was at the bottom of the bed over both of their body's. "Night Mikasa." Eren whispered as he made himself comfortable, but made sure not to startle Mikasa in any way.

He soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep of his own and soon the only noise that could be heard in the room was the soft breathing of sleeping children.


	2. The solace of sleep

Note-I'm back with the second chapter of 'Memories, From the corners of our minds'. I know it took me a long time to get this finished, so for this I'm sorry. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer- I don't own shingeki no kyojin or the characters.

Thin streams of light flooded in from the small window in the room. Eventually a ray of sunlight met the brunettes closed eyes and made the young boy stir from his slumber. Eren slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He realized he was in the spare bedroom of his house. He found this odd until he was reminded of last night by the weight on his right shoulder. Eren looked over to see Mikasa still asleep and smiled at how peaceful she looked. Because of this, Eren decided to not wake the girl from her sleep and he would just wait for her to wake on her own.

Five minutes passed until the sun light finally made Mikasa stir awake also. Eren watched Mikasa's eyes flutter open ever so gently. The girl then noticed that she was leaning on something. So without picking up her head from his shoulder, she looked to her left to see a smiling Eren. Eren thought this was somewhat cute and in response said. "Morning sleepy head." After it sunk into Mikasa's head that Eren was next to her, she lifted her head up quickly and stuttered. "E-Eren"

"Yeah, what is it Mikasa?" He asked. "Eren, why are you in my bed." Mikasa asked in a curious tone. "You don't remember, well I wanted to go back to my bed but some one didn't want me to leave and then thought it was a good idea to use me as a pillow. Ring any bells?" Eren teased while he smirked. To this, Mikasa just flushed red and looked away. Eren, satisfied with her reaction, chuckled while he stood up and stretched. "Man my shoulder is sore."

Mikasa looked down feeling guilty for not letting the brunette sleep comfortably. Eren looked back to her and spotted her sad expression. He mentally scolded himself and quickly reassured the girl. "I mean- it was worth it, you know, as long as you got to sleep peacefully." Eren's comment made Mikasa perk up a bit and erased any guilt she had. There was a short silence until Eren decided to change the subject.

"Hey Mikasa, is it just me or do you smell breakfast cooking." Eren asked with a grin. Mikasa nodded quickly in agreement. "Alright then, I'm gonna go get dressed, see you down stairs. Eren said as he dashed out of the room to his own bedroom.

After both the children were dressed, they went down stairs to be greeted by Carla who was fast at work preparing breakfast. "Morning kids" Carla said happily without taking her eyes off the frying pan full of eggs that was cooking on the stove.

Mikasa gave a quite "Good morning" while Eren greeted his mother in a louder, more enthusiastic tone. They both took a seat next to each other at the table and waited patiently for breakfast. After five minutes Carla served breakfast and they all began to eat in relative quiet. After a few minutes in, Eren glanced around the room and then asked. "Hey mom, where's dad at?"

"Your father already went to work, he wanted to get done a little earlier so he can stop by the markets before they close." Eren hummed in agreement and then scooped the last forkful of food in his mouth before asking. "Say mom, do you have any chores for-ow!" Eren was cut short when Mikasa reached over and smacked him on the back of his head.

"What was that for?" The brunette whined. "You shouldn't talk with your mouth full." Mikasa stated simply. Carla giggled softly at the two children and then answered. "No honey I don't have anything for you to do today. I figured it would be nice of you to show Mikasa around and relax a little."

To this, Eren, who was pouting, changed his expression to a wide grin. "Thanks mom, I was thinking about introducing Mikasa to Armin today."

"Oh I think that would be a great idea, Armin is such a sweet boy." Carla said as she got up from the table and started to pick up all the dishes. Eren and Mikasa said their thanks to Carla and Eren ran out the door with a shout "Come on Mikasa!"

But instead of following him, she turned to Carla and asked. "Would you like help with the dishes Mrs.Jäger?" To this, Carla just smiled and said. "No thanks sweetie, I appreciate it, but I think it would be good idea for you to explore the town with Eren and Armin, try to have fun and just be kids, Okay?"

Mikasa gave a small smile and nodded in agreement before she went outside, chasing after Eren. Carla watched them from the window and smiled to herself and thought of how cute the pair was together. Eren was waiting by the bottom of the steps for Mikasa to catch up. When she reached him, he motioned for her to follow as they began to walk down the cobblestone street.

They walked for a few minutes, all the while Eren was leading while Mikasa followed closely behind, as she took in all of her surroundings. When they arrived in the district last night, it was hard to see just how big and crowded the buildings were together. After they walked a little longer they finally came to the main corner of town that led to the long road that was filled with shops and market stands.

It was about 10 o' clock, so to say the road was jam packed with people would have been an understatement. Mikasa had never seen so many people in one place in her whole life. Though she didn't show it, she was quickly overwhelmed and becoming scared of getting lost.

The brunette began to walk out in the street but stopped when he glanced back and saw the ravenette hesitate. The reassurance that the young girl needed came in the form of Eren. Who gripped her right hand like he did last night, so she would feel safe and be assured that they wouldn't get separated.

Normally Eren would be embarrassed to hold someones hand in front of a lot of people, but it was different now, now he only cared about protecting Mikasa. So they started out in the street, hand in hand, Eren leading Mikasa along the right side, flowing with the crowd that moved along the stands and shops.

The children walked passed many stands that were selling all kinds of candy and toys. Eren was enjoying himself but quickly became worried when he looked behind him to see a overwhelmed Mikasa. Even though she felt secure with Eren holding her hand, she still became nervous by all the moving people.

Who could blame her, she came from a home in the mountains that had few other people living near by, of course she would feel overwhelmed by this drastic change. Eren frowned and looked down in shame. 'How could I be so stupid! She's probably terrified on the inside, dammit! I promised to protect her' Eren thought to himself.

"Hey Mikasa, I want you to answer me truthfully on this." Eren spoke up, making Mikasa stop her frantic glancing in every direction. She then looked at the brunette, signaling for him to continue.

"Do you feel nervous by being around all these people?" Eren asked in the most sincere and gentlest voice he has ever used. Mikasa looked down in embarrassment and answered with a meek nod up and down. While Eren worried about Mikasa being uncomfortable, Mikasa worried about trying not to ruin Eren's fun in any way. You see, while Eren promised to comfort Mikasa in any way possible. Mikasa had made her own silent promise, which was to not be a burden on Eren or the Jäger's and to protect them.

So for Mikasa to be frightened in the hustle and bustle of the city, made the poor girl embarrassed that she is making Eren change his activities that he found enjoyable, just to suit her. However, in Eren's mind, this could be the furthest thing from the truth. All the boy wanted to do was to provide comfort and make Mikasa's new life in shinganshina as stress free as possible.

Eren thought for a moment and a great idea came to mind. "I got it! I know the perfect place where we can go to get away from everybody." Eren exclaimed. Before Mikasa had time to tell Eren to not worry about her and to lead her wherever he wanted in the city streets, the brunette had tugged her along excitedly down a alley way.

They walked a couple blocks until they reached a street that was a lot more void of people. Eren turned back towards Mikasa with a grin on his face. "Hey, you know that perfect place I mentioned?" Mikasa nodded. "Well I want it to be a surprise so could you keep your eyes closed until we get there?"

Mikasa was hesitant about the request. Eren sensed this and said. "Don't worry, I'll hold your hand the whole way so we don't get separated." Mikasa was still a little hesitant. Eren raised his hand with his pinky finger pointing out and said. "Pinky promise." Mikasa flushed red a bit, raised her hand next to Eren's and intertwined her pinky with his.

Eren gave her a big smile, which she returned with a tiny one. Then he grabbed her hand again and led her further down the street, away from the city. Mikasa kept her promise and closed her eyes because she knew Eren wouldn't break his end of the deal.

So she was blindly pulled alley through alley way, she couldn't even sense where they were going. She became nervous of being without her sense of sight, but Eren was there to gently squeeze her hand in reassurance that she was safe. This kept Mikasa following him anywhere he was going without so much as a peep.

They finally reached their destination, Eren turned to Mikasa and smiled at the cute sight of Mikasa still holding her eyes closed and firmly gripping onto his hand. "Okay, here we are, you can open your eyes."

Mikasa's eyes fluttered open and she was taken aback at the large field that surrounded the hill they were now standing on. Green, lush grass covered every inch of the field and there was white, fluffy clouds dotting the baby blue sky above them. This place was simply beautiful.

Eren watched Mikasa's expression to see if she liked the place or not and he was relieved when she spoke up. "Your right Eren, it is perfect. It seems so...peaceful." Mikasa looked at Eren with a small smile painting her face.

"Well good...I'm glad." Eren said as he turned around and walked towards an oak tree that until now, Mikasa hadn't noticed that they were standing in front of. She too spun around and watched as Eren walked over to the trunk and sat down, leaning his back against it.

Eren notice Mikasa gaping at the size of the giant tree and spoke up. "It's pretty big huh?" Mikasa nodded, her eyes following the massive trunk until they reached the top. "It's been here ever since I found this place when I was eight and probably forty to fifty years before that. It's nice that it's out here, standing all alone. It's a wonder someone hasn't cut it down for lumber." There was a slight pause as Eren wiggled around, making himself comfortable.

"Any way, I'll say it provides a relaxing place to rest under some shade. This is where I take most of my naps." Eren motioned for Mikasa to sit next to him, she did and he scooted over to make some room for her. They sat there in peaceful silence as a gentle breeze ever so lightly dusted over the sea of green grass; swaying the blades to the left and then right.

Eren let out a yawn and Mikasa did the same. The soft grass mixed with the quietness and the soft breeze made a combination that lulled both of them into a calm sleep. Mikasa's head had slid towards Eren, while his head did the same, until they were leaning against each other. And there they sat, boy and girl, slumbering in the warm, early October air.

After four hours had past, filled with peaceful tranquility. Mikasa was the first to awake and she slowly picked her head up, leaning back against the bark. She noticed that Eren was still asleep and had a slight stream of drool trailing down his cheek. She giggled a little when the small boy snored as loud as a full grown man would.

She decided to let him sleep, due to him sleeping in a uncomfortable position last night, to which she still felt a little bad about. She was snapped out of her thoughts when off in the distance, she heard someone call out. Mikasa looked around for the source of the voice, and soon spotted somebody coming out of the tree line that surrounded the other side of the field.

Mikasa strained her eyes, the far distance between them making it hard to see who the intruder was. As the person came closer, she realized it was a boy that looked about her age, he had golden, shoulder length hair that gleamed in the sunlight. He wore brown trousers and a light blue cardigan that was lighter than his dark blue eyes. Mikasa also noticed the boy was carrying something in his hands but couldn't tell what.

The boy continued to come closer, he seemed like he didn't see her, probably because she was sitting down and the hill that the big oak was sitting on blocked his view. He continued to yell out while looking around, searching for something or someone. But only until he got half way to the tree did she hear what he was saying.

"Eren! Hey Eren are you around here!?" Mikasa realized this and nudged the boy in question on the shoulder, waking him. Eren's bleary eyes shot open and he looked around, still somewhat drowsy. "What did ya wake me for Mikasa?" Eren whined.

"Their is some kid yelling your name." She simply replied. Before Eren could say anything further, the blond boy yelled out again. "Eren!" Said boy quickly recognized the voice, stood up with a smile on his face and happily exclaimed to Mikasa. "It's Armin!" Mikasa remembered Eren telling her last night that Armin was his best friend and just nodded in agreement.

As Armin finally reached the base of the hill that the oak tree sat on, Eren realized that Armin didn't know the situation with Mikasa yet. And being the curious kid that he was, he would surely ask why she is living with him all of the sudden. Eren would feel awful if Mikasa was reminded of the tragic events of last night. Thus making her become filled with more grief than she was already experiencing.

"Ah, uh, you stay here Mikasa...I need to tell Armin something real quick. Okay?" Eren sputtered out.

Mikasa flashed him a quick look that showed her concern of him leaving her side. "Don't worry I'm just going right over there to tell him something, I'll be back in a second." Eren reassured before quickly turning around and running towards Armin, who stood at the base of the hill.

"Hey Armin hold on a second." Eren yelled before he reached his friend. Mikasa watched the conversation between the two of them but they spoke in a low tone that prevented her from hearing what they were saying.

After a moment Eren gripped Armin by the shoulders as his expression became deadly serious. Mikasa noticed that Eren looked at her before continuing to speak to Armin. Mikasa figured that Eren was telling him who she is and the whole situation. She looked down at the grass and her expression was emotionless as she was given a slight reminder of why she was here and her parents murder.

However, she thought to herself that she was grateful of Eren for trying to do what he was doing. After another moment, she looked back to the two boys. After Eren was finished explaining, Armin looked at her briefly with a look of pity and sorrow before turning back to Eren to give him a nod of agreement.

After this, the two boys started to climb the hill together to regroup at the tree where Mikasa still sat.

Mikasa decided to not say anything about their conversation and just nodded to Eren as he returned to his seat next to her against the tree. Armin sat cross legged a few feet away, facing towards them. "So Mikasa this is Armin." Eren introduced. "Nice to meet you." Armin spoke sweetly. "Likewise." Mikasa answered emotionlessly.

There was a few moments of silence before Armin spoke up. "You know Eren, we were suppose to meet up by the river don't you?" Eren scratched his head and sheepishly grinned. "Yeah, sorry about that Armin. I showed Mikasa around town and then we came here and we accidentally fell asleep."

Armin was quick to forgive and chuckled as he said to himself. "Yep, same old Eren." Eren pouted a little as he replied. "What could I do, it's so nice out and you know I need my mid afternoon nap." This made Armin start to laugh and Eren began to smile and laugh as well, even Mikasa cracked a small smile.

After the laughter died down, Eren asked Armin. "So how did you know where to find us anyway?"

"Well first I went to the river, you weren't there, so then I went to your house. Your mom told me you weren't in, so then I checked the only other place you go to, which his here and here you are."

Eren just replied with a short "Oh" He then looked to Mikasa to see her eyeing the book that Armin had brought with him. "I told you I hardly ever see him without a book in hand." Eren said as Mikasa nodded in agreement.

This comment caught the attention of Armin. "Do you guys want me to read it?" He asked excitedly. "Sure." Mikasa and Eren said simultaneously.

"Okay, well it's about a far off land where a princess lives trapped in a castle thats guarded by a fierce, fire breathing dragon. And the only way for her to escape is by being rescued by a noble knight. So the story starts out like this-"

There the three children sat, enjoying each others company and reveling in the glory of being mere kids. For now they dream and laugh, without knowing that their bond will only strengthen with time, eventually becoming unbreakable.

The end

End note- Well there it is, I'm sorry it was so long but I had a lot of things I wanted to include into this chapter and once I got rolling, I couldn't stop. Haha. Anyway, I just want to say that if anybody has any ideas for future chapters that they want included. Send me a message and I will try to incorporate them in. I have plenty of my own ideas but I want to consider others as well. If you could give me your thoughts of this chapter in a review, I would truly appreciate it. Well until we meet again.

-see you on the flip side


	3. The game of youth and friendship

I'm back with chapter three. I've been wanting to write this one since the first chapter. It's just a simple chapter where they play a game. Please enjoy.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki No Kyojin or the characters. **

"So Mikasa, do you remember that game I told you about?" The brunette asked. Eren, Mikasa and Armin were currently standing next to the oak tree that sat in the field that was their regular spot to play. "Um...hide and seek tag?" Mikasa answered, unsure if that was the game he was talking about. "Yep, that's the one." Eren replied, glad that she remembered. "Well do you guys want to play?"

Mikasa and Armin both nodded their heads, then Mikasa asked. "How do you play?"

"Good question, well normally tag and hide and seek are played separately, but being the smart cocoanut that he is." Eren grinned while gesturing to Armin. "Armin here combined the two. So what you do is somebody closes their eyes and counts to 20 or 30, while the other people hide. Then the seeker seeks the hiders and when they find them, they need to also tag them to win. Understand?"

Mikasa nodded but also asked. "Why did you combine them?" "Well Armin giggled and fidgeted around too much when we used to just play hide and seek." Armin flushed red from embarrassment and sputtered out. "S-sorry, I get too nervous from all the pressure of being found." Mikasa just nodded.

"So combining them gives you more chances of winning and besides, it's twice as much fun this way!" Eren shouted happily and continued. "So, now that the rules are down, let's play. I'll count first, you two can go hide." Eren began to count while Mikasa and Armin looked at each other.

Armin nodded to her, then took off towards the edge of the field in search of a place to hide. Mikasa on the other hand, shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really know why Eren and Armin found this game fun, but she decided to be nice and play along. She eventually ran to a bush, located on the opposite side of the field that Armin ran towards, and hunkered down behind it.

Eren then exclaimed loudly. "Ready or not here I come! " He began to look around, eventually noticing the sound of giggling coming from behind a pine tree. "Yep, it's the tell tale sign of Armin." He chuckled to himself before sprinting straight for Armin's hiding spot.

Armin, realizing he had been found, started to run from Eren in the opposite direction. It didn't take long for the brunette to catch up and tag him, after that Mikasa came out of hiding and the game restarted.

They played a couple more times until it was back to Eren being the seeker. The boy started to count, while Armin and Mikasa looked for a spot they haven't yet hidden behind. Mikasa found her spot when she looked to the giant oak. Since she was adept at climbing many trees at her parents home in the mountains, this was no problem for her.

She quickly shimmied up the trunk and sat on a sturdy branch. Eren finished counting and found her very easily. However it wasn't Mikasa plan to exactly hide instead of just find a place where Eren couldn't reach her.

However, she never expected the boy to be so determined. Eren looked up to her and chuckled. "Ha, you think just cause your up there then that means I can't get you, you wait and see Mikasa, I'm gonna get ya!" Eren yelled with a determined look while he smiled from the excitement of the challenge.

He started shimming up the trunk, holding onto the bark, but he quickly lost his grip and slid back down. He tried again and again with no luck. Eventually, Mikasa became worried that Eren might slip and fall.

"Eren, maybe you should stop before you get hurt." However the brunette wouldn't listen and shouted back. "No, I can do it!" So he kept on climbing until one of his attempts, he reached half way up the tree, but to Mikasa's horror, he slipped and fell, landing in the grass on his back.

"Eren!" She yelled as she quickly shimmied down the tree and ran to Eren's side. Armin saw him fall too and was currently running across the felid to his aid also.

"Eren! Please, wake up Eren!" Mikasa cried out with tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she shook the brunette. She was terrified, so much so that she thought she had lost a part of her new family, even though he only fell a distance of five feet. She began to cry as Armin ran up behind her, stopping in his tracks as he stared at Eren laying lifeless on the ground.

Finally Eren awoke, without opening his eyes, he whispered. "Mikasa?" She was happy that he was still alive, with tears streaking down her face, she and asked. "Yes Eren, what is it?"

"Come closer." Mikasa did as he asked and leaned her head close to Eren's. He then raised his hand up and touched her nose with his index finger and said.

"Tag your it." Eren smiled, thinking his prank was funny. Mikasa on the other hand became really angry that he would worry her so much and without another word, stood up and began to walk back home.

Eren sat up with a confused look and asked Armin. "What I do?" The blond boy just shook his head disappointingly at Eren and replied. "Not cool man." Mikasa didn't speak to Eren for the rest of the day. But eventually, she forgave him the next morning and both of them were fine and all was forgiven.

End note-well there it is. Hope you enjoyed. Sorry about the ending, I really didn't know how to end it so I figured I would write something I thought was realistic. I thought that since Eren worries Mikasa have to death in the military(in the anime and manga) that he would do the same as a kid. Anyway, thanks for reading and a review would be greatly appreciated. Well until we meet again.

\- see you on the flip side


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